Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said that criminal cases lodged against girls in Sambhal for holding a demonstration because they were left out of the Kanya Vidya Dhan and Hamari Beti Uska Kal schemes will be revoked.

The police registered a case against 150 unknown persons, including 40 girl students, who during their protest had damaged a hoarding of Minister of State for Food and Supplies Iqbal Mehmood and blocked a road in Sambhal on Monday. The girls claimed they were eiligible, but their names did not figure in the lists of beneficiaries. The CM had distributed cheques to beneficiaries of both schemes at Rampur on Monday. "The incident is in my notice. I want to assure that every eligible girl student will get the cheque. There is no need to worry," Akhilesh said in Lucknow, while talking to mediapersons after a Home Guards function on Tuesday.

Regarding the case registered against girls, Akhilesh said: "The cases registered against these girl students will be revoked." Mehmood also said that the girls were innocents and no action would be taken against them. "These students were instigated by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders. They were used as a tool and they did not understand it. I repeat that no action will be taken against the students but those behind the incident will not be spared," the minister told The Indian Express.

Sambhal SP Tahsildar Singh, too, said that the girl students were provoked by some people. "We understand that their career will be spoiled and we have no intention of taking action against them. After the CM's announcement, no girl will be affected," Singh added.

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